Valley Mead Farm, located just north of Tremblay Road on Route 100 in Waitsfield, suffered up to $80,000 worth of damage due to flooding from Tropical Storm Irene, as water channeled through fields and flattened 25 to 30 acres of corn on land that the farm’s owner, Don Spaulding, rents to Jack DeFreest.

While the farm has qualified for up to $31,000 of federal aid from the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency to help repair the damage, “how can you replace topsoil?” Spaulding asks, explaining that the farm is making the best it can of its now gravel-filled fields.

After cleaning up the ditches, “I don’t have [the farm] back to where it was originally,” Spaulding said, “but I’ve got it so that it’s growing a decent crop.”